I don't understand why storm sirens sound for severe thunderstorm warnings. Doing so "cheapens" the siren when it sounds for tornado warnings. I am not completely opposed to a siren for severe thunderstorms, but there should be different tones for a thunderstorm warning and a tornado warning. Perhaps they could use the existing siren, one long, continuous tone for a tornado warning, and a broken tone for a thunderstorm.
There have been many occasions when I've heard the sirens going off after I've already gone to bed. I had to sit up, turn on my light, turn on the television, and navigate to a local channel only to discover it's just a thunderstorm warning. I lay back down and the sirens go off again a little bit later. If the storm is bad, I'll sit up and turn on the television again to see why the siren is going off, but sometimes I just assume they're still warning morons too stupid to realize there's a howling storm raging outside, and I ignore the siren and go back to sleep. I realize it could be a tornado warning and that I need to take cover, but sometimes I'm just too tired to keep sitting up, turning on the light and the television, etc ... again.
It's kind of the little boy who cried wolf. I don't get alarmed when I hear a siren going off because it goes off all the time for a silly thunderstorm. I know severe thunderstorms are not silly and should not to be ignored, but honestly ... if you can't tell you're having a severe thunderstorm, the storm is not your biggest problem.
You have a point...the word overkill comes to mind.
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